Woman Charged With Passing Pot to Inmates

State and local law enforcement have arrested a Goose Creek woman accused of introducing contraband to a Ridgeville prison.

The S.C. Department of Correction announced the arrest Tuesday night as part of a joint investigation by the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department narcotics team and the Correction Department's Special Investigations Unit.

Stephanie Rose Surell, 37, was charged with introducing contraband into a prison and distributing marijuana in proximity to a park. She was reportedly apprehended at 6:15 on Tuesday night in the Walmart parking lot on St. James Avenue. Surell is expected to have a bond hearing Wednesday night.

Investigators said Surell confessed to introducing contraband into McDougall Correctional Institution in Ridgeville on multiple occasions.

According to Corrections spokesman Clark Newsom, this arrest is one of several around the state in an effort to stem the tide of the growing problem of "throw-overs" and other illegal attempts to get items like cell-phones, tobacco, illegal drugs and narcotics into the state prison facilities.